Bill Gates, wife most charitable donors: Report

Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates and his wife Melinda are the most generous charitable donors in America, Business Week magazine said on Thursday, as the couple gave away or pledged a staggering $23 billion—more than half of their net worth.

In the magazine’s second-annual ranking of the top 50 philanthropists in the United States, the Gates’ are worth a net $46 billion—the rough equivalent of Hungary’s entire gross domestic product. With the couple’s having donated 54 per cent of their net worth, Business Week dubbed them ‘the reigning royalty of a new class of self-made superphilanthropists.’

Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel Corp, along with his wife Betty, came in a distant second with $7 billion given or pledged, the magazine said. Billionaire investor George Soros placed third, with $2.4 billion, or 68 per cent of his net worth.

The magazine’s rankings also included philanthropic stalwarts such as Ted Turner (at No 8), the founder of Cable News Network, a unit of Time Warner Inc; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at No 11; and Sanford Weill, the chairman of Citigroup Inc at No 23.